


In Between the Pink and Green

by butterflyslinky



Series: Life Will Begin with the Color on My Skin [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Mild Sexual Content, Minor Injuries, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-05
Updated: 2014-12-05
Packaged: 2018-02-28 07:39:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2724152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflyslinky/pseuds/butterflyslinky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When your soulmate gets a bruise, you get one in a different color. When Tony gets bruises in two different colors, he isn't sure what that's supposed to mean.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Between the Pink and Green

**Author's Note:**

> Tangentially related to Black and Blue Will Lead to You (http://archiveofourown.org/works/2708279), though you don't have to read that one to understand this.

The first mark Tony could remember finding that wasn’t a normal bruise was on his knee, typical of a small child who had fallen down, and it came in a light, feminine pink, prim and proper in Tony’s mind. From that alone, he assumed his soulmate was a girl a bit younger than him.

But there weren’t many spots of pink on his skin, and after a few years, there came to be none at all. Tony wasn’t sure what that meant, if it was because his soulmate was very careful or because he’d lost her before they’d even met. He couldn’t know unless he met her and saw the marks he left—and God knew he left plenty. She was probably very annoyed that her proper clean skin was marred by whatever color Tony gave her.

He worried that she would hate him for it when they finally met, that she would be upset that he made her so spotted, but he couldn’t help it. He wasn’t clumsy, nor did he get into many fights, but he did tend to be reckless and hurt himself more often than a rich boys should. He did try to keep too many bruises from forming, but he couldn’t help it. There was always so much to know and explore, and he couldn’t be careful just for the sake of it.

That was what Tony thought when he was ten. But just as he’d come to that conclusion, another soul bruise formed on his upper arm, but instead of the demure feminine pink, this bruise was a harsh, sickening green.

Tony was baffled. Had his soulmate radically changed her personality? Or had she died and a new one been born in the last four years? But if they were supposed to be two halves of the same whole, why were the bruises so different?

Tony didn’t know what to do, or who to ask about it. His father studied soul bruises for science, but Tony didn’t feel confident enough to ask his dad what it meant to get marks in two different colors. So he said nothing and just hoped that whoever his soulmate was, that they would like him and not mind when he banged himself up.

The green marks kept coming, faster than Tony even bruised himself, and Tony worried for the person they were reflecting. They hadn’t started appearing until he was ten, which indicated that this person was much younger than him, and Tony wondered if their parents hurt them, or if they were bullied, or if they were just plain clumsy. Whichever it was, Tony wished it would stop, or at least slow down, because he hated having those ugly green spots all over him. He almost wished that the pink marks would come back to show him that it was all a mistake and his real soulmate was still out there.

When he was fifteen, he got his wish and found a small pink bruise on his elbow, clearly an accident. Tony was overjoyed to see it, to know that the proper pink girl was still alive and still his soulmate. But the green marks didn’t fade, just kept coming, clashing horribly with the occasional pink ones. Tony was more confused than ever, unsure how he could have soul bruises in different colors and how that would work. Did his soulmate have a split personality, perhaps? Or did he have two different soulmates, both of whom were receiving his bruises along with each other’s?

He didn’t know, and he wasn’t sure how to find out.

*

Tony was in his final year of college, studying physics and engineering and all sorts of other difficult subjects, on his father’s dime as long as he kept his grades up. That wasn’t difficult, though. Tony was reckless, but he had always been smart.

The bruises weren’t as thick as they were before. He still got spots of green fairly often, and the occasional accidental pink, but he had learned to hide them all pretty well. He always wore long sleeves and pants, never allowed anyone, not even his roommates, see his bruises. At least his soulmate or soulmates were courteous enough not to get hit in the face. He wasn’t sure how he would explain it if he happened to get one pink eye and one green.

Everything was going well for him as the first semester came to a close, so Tony felt he was in a good position to go out. Not that he had anyone to go with, but he was sure he’d find someone to spend the evening with. He knew most of the people on campus and most of them liked him, or pretended to so they could get in good with his dad. He headed for a bar he liked, intending to have a few drinks and maybe pick up a girl. He had just gotten to the street when he felt a sympathy pain in his right wrist. He glanced down and saw that it had turned completely pink.

Tony didn’t even pause. He started moving toward the pull of the pain. It hurt more than any of his ordinary bruises and was much bigger than anything Pink had ever given him. Had she broken her wrist? How? And where was she that was close enough for him to feel it?

He rounded a corner, looking around wildly, trying to find the source of the pain. He glanced into an alley and spotted a dark, huddled shape on the ground and then he heard muffled sobbing.

He dashed into the alley towards the sound, his wrist throbbing so painfully that he wasn’t sure if he would be able to use it. Definitely broken, then. He reached the figure and knelt down.

A woman, with neat blonde hair and very pretty blue eyes. Tony could tell she was almost as tall as him, even though she was currently curled on the ground, wearing fashionable clothes that were probably normally a lot neater than her current state suggested. She looked at Tony fearfully as he reached for her without thinking.

“Hey,” he said. “It’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt…” He hissed in a breath and his wrist throbbed again. “Not gonna hurt you,” he finished.

She studied him closely and that was when Tony noticed that she, too, had green soul bruises, in the same places he did. But she also had other marks, in a bright neon orange, like someone had attacked her with a highlighter, in the places where he had bruised himself in a hundred normal accidents, all within the last week.

“You’re Orange,” she said.

“Yeah,” he said. “And you’re Pink.”

She smiled weakly. 

“How did you hurt your wrist?” he asked, holding out his left hand to see.

She gave him her right hand to examine. “I fell,” she said. “Heels caught the crack there.” She nodded at a fault in the pavement.

Tony tested the wrist carefully, hissing along with her whenever he hit a particularly tender spot. “I think it’s broken,” he said. “Certainly feels that way.” He glanced at her shoes, a pair of very stylish heels, not too high, but high enough to make a fall hurt. “Can I take these shoes off? It’ll be easier to get out of here.” She nodded, and he removed the heels and very carefully helped her to her feet. She clutched at the bad wrist as he guided her out of the alleyway.

“I don’t want to lose those shoes,” she muttered.

“I’ll come get them later,” Tony promised. “Or I’ll buy you a new pair. Tony Stark, by the way.”

She looked at him in shock. “Oh!” she gasped. “I mean…I’ve heard of you, of course, but…but I never dreamed that you were one of my soulmates.” She smiled easier as he led her to his car. “I’m Virginia Potts, but everyone calls me Pepper.”

“I’m very pleased to meet you, Pepper.” He got her into the passenger seat and did the belt for her before going to the driver’s side and settling in. “So…soulmates? More than just the two of us?”

“Of course,” she said. “We each got two different colors...I did some research as soon as Green started coming in and realized that we must be part of a triad. It’s a bit…unusual, but not unheard of. I guess some souls got split into three and can’t find balance with only one partner.”

“Do you know who Green is?” Tony asked eagerly. If he could find Green, maybe he could stop them from hurting so much.

Pepper shook her head. “Haven’t found them yet,” she muttered. “But now that we’ve found each other, we can look together.

They arrived at the hospital and Pepper’s wrist was set the moment Tony’s name was said. It was one of the many advantages of having a rich father.

*

They had been searching for five years.

Not exhaustively, of course. During that time, Tony had finished his Master’s in Engineering, and Pepper had gotten her business degree and was starting on her own graduate program. They were both in school with Howard’s money now—he had been taken with Pepper from the moment Tony introduced her. “I’m very glad he found you,” Howard said. “He needs someone responsible in his life.”

They lived together now, in a small but very nice apartment, perfect for the two of them, but with enough space to accommodate Green, whenever they found them. Tony was certain they would, someday. His relationship with Pepper was wonderful, of course, but he could feel that they weren’t perfect, that they still needed to find a balance, someone who was smart and responsible enough to understand Pepper, but who had the knowledge and energy to keep up with Tony.

And hopefully, someone who was attractive to both of them, because their sex life was fantastic.

“Wonder if they get jealous,” Pepper murmured one night, tracing a pink hickey on Tony’s neck. “Seeing what we do to each other.”

“Maybe,” Tony said. “Or maybe they’re happy to know we’ve found each other and know we’re looking for them, too.”

But whoever Green was, they remained anonymous, leaving Pepper and Tony to search blindly for them, carefully examining the soul bruises on every person in the street in the hopes of finding the garish mix of pink and orange that would tell them who their third was.

*

Pepper was used to sympathy pain from Tony—living with him meant that she felt it every time he banged into something or caused an accident in the lab, which happened far more often than it should. So when she felt a sting in her shoulder while out shopping one day, she didn’t think much of it.

Until she went into a changing room and spotted the huge green mark as she tried on a new blouse.

It was all she could do to get back into her regular clothes and grab her purse before she was racing out the door of the changing room, looking around wildly to see if she could find the person causing it. It wasn’t hurting anymore, which meant it wasn’t a serious wound, but that meant that whoever it was was very nearby. She couldn’t follow the pain, but she could still look around.

She quickly checked her arms and legs and memorized the positions of Tony’s marks. Most of them wouldn’t be seen under clothes of course, especially if Green was wearing long sleeves, but there was a substantial one on her left arm that would be visible on anyone wearing a t-shirt. It was all she had to go on—she hadn’t bruised herself in a few weeks, and Tony’s skin when she saw him at night only bore green.

She moved through the aisles of the department store, looking at each person’s arms, trying to spot the hideously wonderful orange mark on any of them. Most people she passed had some mark or another, but not the one she wanted. Blue…white…gold…purple…there!

She practically broke into a run, trying to keep up with the man who was walking away from the shop and into the mall, hands in his back pockets and his head down as though trying not to be noticed. She chased after him, trying not to be too obvious and attract attention as she tracked him down the hallway, wondering how she was supposed to approach him.

He finally stopped and sat down in the food court, not ordering anything from any of the booths around him. He leaned on his elbows, looking rather sad, and Pepper’s heart broke to see that, along with the regular bruises whose positions she knew so well. She and Tony had spent countless hours tracing the green marks, wondering who the mystery person at the other end was, and now he was right in front of her, an average-looking man with dark curls and very sad brown eyes and hands that shook even as he leaned on them.

Pepper hesitated a moment before she took a breath and walked over to the table and stood by the other chair. “Can I sit down?” she asked gently.

He looked up, startled, and Pepper spotted half of another orange mark just under his collar, a mark she knew was fully visible on her own skin. “Um…sure,” he said. His eyes moved to her neck and chest and his face cleared. “Of course.”

She took a seat, sitting prim and proper like she always had. “I know this may seem forward…” she began.

“Bruce Banner,” he interrupted. “And I guess you’re Pink.”

“Pepper Potts,” she corrected. “And yes, I am.” She pulled out her phone. “I’m going to text Tony Stark…he’s Orange.”

“Oh.” Bruce looked about as shocked as she had felt upon learning their soulmate was Tony Stark. “Yeah…probably a good idea.”

Pepper sent a quick message and then turned back to Bruce. “So…” she said, not really sure where to begin.

“So,” Bruce said back, smiling a little. Pepper couldn’t help but smile back. “This is a bit…awkward,” he said.

“What?” Pepper asked with a laugh. “Meeting one of your soulmates in the middle of a mall for no reason?”

“Well, that,” Bruce said. “And knowing that your soulmates already have a very active and passionate relationship with each other and being unsure if there’s room in it for you.”

Pepper shook her head. “Of course there’s room,” she said. “We’ve been looking for you.”

“Surprised it was so hard to find me,” Bruce said teasingly. “You two aren’t exactly discrete.”

“Time and place,” Pepper pointed out. “This is a huge city. Finding anyone is a chore.”

Bruce nodded. “Guess so,” he said. “And I didn’t know what color my marks were until now…I could have passed you two a hundred times and not known it.”

“I don’t know about that,” Pepper said. “But we’ve found each other now, and that’s what matters.”

Just then, Tony came barreling into the mall and was striding towards them as fast as he possibly could, looking eager. Without preamble, he pulled up a chair and sat down between Pepper and Bruce. “Tony Stark,” he said breathlessly, looking at Bruce with pure joy and admiration in his eyes.

“I know,” Bruce said. “Bruce Banner.”

“I know,” Tony said.

Pepper looked surprised. “You’ve met?” she asked.

“No,” Tony said. “But this guy is the foremost expert on genetic engineering…youngest, too.”

Bruce blushed. “Not that impressive,” he mumbled, though he did look pleased.

“Yes it is,” Tony said. He reached out and took Bruce’s hand in one of his, and Pepper’s in the other. “And what’s more is that we’re all together now.”

Bruce smiled at them both. “You’re right,” he said. “We’re whole.”

*

It took less than a week for Bruce to move in with them, and everything seemed to fall into place.

There were still bruises, of course. Tony and Bruce were both so clumsy and reckless that Pepper swore that she was nothing but orange and green most of the time. But that was all right, because she always knew when they needed to be kissed better.

They balanced out, science and business and love, and Tony couldn’t remember why he had ever disliked either of their colors. The demure pink, the sickly green, the neon orange...they all clashed, but somehow, they all looked perfectly in place together.


End file.
